Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Friends Life disposes Lombard division to Blackstone, Reuters says Friends Life announced that it sold its Lombard division to Blackstone for an initial consideration of $532M and said it will use a portion of the proceeds to buy-back shares, according to Reuters, citing a statement from Friends Life CEO Andy Briggs. The agreement is anticipated to be finalized in 2H14. Reference Link

Blackstone quickly raises $14.5B for new real estate fund, WSJ saysIn less than four months, Blackstone raised $14.5B from institutional investors for a new real estate fund, which plans to increase its total capital to $15.8B by raising an added $1.3B from retail investors, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing a memo sent Friday to investors in the new fund. The same day Blackstone agreed to use its previous real-estate fund to buy three hotels in Florida and Arizona from a group led by John Paulsonís firm for more than $1.2B, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter. Reference Link

Sunrun powers up for IPO later this year, WSJ reportsSunrun, a solar-energy company, is said to be working with Credit Suisse (CS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) on a potential IPO for later this year, sources tell The Wall Street Journal, which adds that the company was valued at $1.3B as of March 2014. Other solar companies that have gone public in recent years include residential solar installers like Vivint Solar (VSLR), backed by Blackstone (BX), and SolarCity (SCTY), backed by Tesla's (TSLA) Elon Musk. Reference Link